Panasonic New ZT60 High-end Plasma 'KURO KILLER' with beyond Reference Picture Quality.

[Psycho Sonny]

It's like the whole thread have ignored the GT60.

Buy the GT50 if you don't mind the issues...

The GT60 will be the TV to buy next year when it shall hit the £800 price mark, atm the GT50 is a no brainer imo.

Also the fact companies like JL aren't stocking it would stop a lot of people from buying, their only other option is direct from panasonic.

I am not usually a fanboy but I have to say JL is the only place I even think about when buying a TV and just get them to price match to get the best price.

 

[inogen]

The GT60 will be the TV to buy next year when it shall hit the £800 price mark, atm the GT50 is a no brainer imo.

Also the fact companies like JL aren't stocking it would stop a lot of people from buying, their only other option is direct from panasonic.

I am not usually a fanboy but I have to say JL is the only place I even think about when buying a TV and just get them to price match to get the best price.

Totally agree. The thing that finally swung it for me to buy my GT50 rather than wait was that JL aren't stocking the GT60 anyway.

 

[mattyg]

Lettuce be cereal. Panasonic's use 25% or less electricity than Pioneer Plasma's, this is the main thing being holding back PQ, tight regulations on Energy Ratings.

Panasonic Plasma's are now a hell of a lot thinner, produce a hell of a lot less heat and have a multitude of new inputs and technology inside them, such as Camera's, Skype, Youtube, Iplayer, etc. They also weigh a fraction of their older counterparts.

Everybody knows had Panasonic not have to adhere to Energy consumption regulations they would have beaten the Kuro range black and blue years ago.

Also say you do not own a Kuro, do you really want to go out and buy a 6 year old TV which consumes 5 times as much electricity, produces a hell of a lot of heat, weighs more than the moon and has zero warranty? A lot of people cannot afford to blow £4K on a TV right now (recession).

The Kuro is an old, fat, outdated, inefficient machine, it's had it's time, it's glory days are now over.

I don't care about most of what you wrote though. I don't need all those inputs. Skype would interfere with my watching the TV. I can get an extended warranty from D&G if I needed it.

So what if I have an extra radiator hanging on the wall. It's great in the winter.
The Tv looks awesome switched on or off.

Its all about the picture quality. Plus with panasonics screen issues how many are going to outlast the Kuro

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I don't care about most of what you wrote though. I don't need all those inputs. Skype would interfere with my watching the TV. I can get an extended warranty from D&G if I needed it.

So what if I have an extra radiator hanging on the wall. It's great in the winter.
The Tv looks awesome switched on or off.

Its all about the picture quality. Plus with panasonics screen issues how many are going to outlast the Kuro

I don't have any issues with my GT50, apart from DFC which may be due to me using the built in freeview tuner and low bit rates compressed signals being fed to it from an indoor boosted aerial.

I have yet to notice DFC when using 1080P Blu Ray's for example. I have the new die hard in full blu ray to watch tonight, think the file size is 41.5 GB, so if that shows DFC i will know for a fact it is a TV issue rather than signal issue.

I cannot see any other issue apart from that one. Also they are rated to last over 20 years are they not under normal use before brightness halves?

I personally have never had a TV die on me during it's life.

My dad on the other hand usually only buys a TV when the old one dies, this goes for everything he buys. His last tv lasted about 15 years maybe longer, before the CRT tube went on it.

Therefore I imagine any new panny plasma would last at least 10 years without breaking a sweat, yes there are a few exceptions to this and some do fail early but if there is a major issue I would hope it shows up early on, and within the free 5 year guarantee from JL. I would also think some Kuro's died within a few years too because no product I imagine has a 0% failure rate.

People keep on banging on about the Kuro's but you cannot buy them anymore, it's like me banging on about a Ford GT40 which was released in the 60's and saying the new Ford GT is pants in comparison. The simple thing is you cannot get these because they are no longer produced and extremely hard to get a hold of. Also you have no idea how well they have been looked after, etc. They are also overpriced because of the nostalgia with them. Seriously you see people trying to sell a 5+ year old plasma for over £1K with no warranty, etc.

I sold my PZ85B for £135, which at the time had been compared to Kuro's for quality, yes the Kuro was better but the PZ85B wasn't that much far off it. If you could pick a Kuro up for £100-£200 then yeah it might be worth it, but you can't.

If you could walk into a shop and buy a brand new Kuro then you might have a point, but for those who are looking for a new tv the Kuro is simply not an option.

 

[Simon]

It consumes more than double the electricity of any new panel. Sure I exaggerated a few things but it's all mainly true.

Hell even my old 42" PZ85B could hit 450W now my new 50" GT50 averages 200W.

Not 5 times then

The 5090 is 420W peak so that 42 sounds horrific.

 

[EvilFranky]

Good job I'm not ignorant then isn't it.

All plasma TV's have technology issues associated with plasma tech.

The issues with the GT50 aren't issues with plamsa tech, the GT60 is a better GT50 without the bugs.

 

[Rofflay]

lol i got this in my email from avforums and my jaw dropped.Only now in 2013 are they topping the Kuro blacks? They had the Kuro team now for a few years right?


The Kuro price is here i see now as well.Cracking TV but ill have to wait now for 4k to come and 48p/60p support for movies.I hope they can continue to keep Kuro alive in some way or form.

Legendary screen love it.

 

[MagicBoy]

As mentioned prevously - power consumption.

 

[james.miller]

I sold my PZ85B for £135, which at the time had been compared to Kuro's for quality, yes the Kuro was better but the PZ85B wasn't that much far off it. If you could pick a Kuro up for £100-£200 then yeah it might be worth it, but you can't.

PZ's were compared to kuros....lol. What does that mean? Everything was compared to the kuros. They weren't as close in performance as you seem to think.

Not 5 times then

The 5090 is 420W peak so that 42 sounds horrific.

I've got a power meter on my 50pz80 right now and its hovering around 320w watching BBC1. Make of that what you will. Calibrated, of course, I'm not cheating the numbers in any way.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

PZ's were compared to kuros....lol. What does that mean? Everything was compared to the kuros. They weren't as close in performance as you seem to think.

Pros

Excellent black-level performance (though marginally lighter than Pioneer Kuros)

from

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Panasonic-TH42PZ85B/Conclusion/


you cannot buy a Kuro in any shop so it is pointless discussing that tv, if someone came up to you and asked you to recommend them a tv to buy, you would have to be a retard to recommend a kuro.

the reason why it has taken so long to beat the kuro as said above is energy regulations forcing companies to lower power consumption, as well as marketing idiots making people think thinner tv = better tv.

with the engineers being forced to make thinner and lower power consuming tv's it was basically impossible to replicate the kuro's black levels.

again I am pretty sure the Kuro isn't the be all and end all of tv's im pretty sure panasonic professional panels are better are they not and they have been around for a few years.

 

[james.miller]

Pros

Excellent black-level performance (though marginally lighter than Pioneer Kuros)

from

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Panasonic-TH42PZ85B/Conclusion/

I'd rather not pretend that black levels are the only important metric when judging a display. The pz's werent in kuro country, that's really the bottom line. you can pretend they are/were if you like. Oh and for the record I dont disagree that people shouldn't be looking for kuros any more - massive scene tax and no warranty would surely put the out of the picture (heh) for any sane buyer. I do however disagree with virtually everything you have ever said about the pz range. From the price to the performance to the power consumption. It's all wrong and I'm starting to question if you make half of this stuff up.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

i never measured my pz85b personally but someone else who sold his on avforums said it would consume up to 480 watts and that he welcomed that his new tv used less than 200

so i assumed he had measured his and mine would be consuming a similar amount.

the pz85b is a stunning set but again it is outdated and old now, mine also used to heat the room up so much that if you had the door shut you would literally start to sweat.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

with the engineers being forced to make thinner and lower power consuming tv's it was basically impossible to replicate the kuro's black levels.

I don't buy this excuse from the manufacturers as the currents sets all use more power in 3d than the old Kuros, the new Samsung 64" 8500 was recorded using 591 watts in 3d mode on avforums. The 5090 Kuro used around 280 watts and the 600M around 390 watts, the 50VT65 out the box was recorded at 340 watts in 2d, once calibrated it was down to 167 watts but still using 366 watts in 3d.

It also isn't retarded to recommend buying a Kuro as plenty still come up second hand, I would say brave to buy one considering the issues that are starting to appear but you can match today's best models for picture quality for under 1k.

 

[Simon]

My 5090 is 4.5 years old an been fine. It's been a long time to have on tv but as I don't need a thin screen there has been nothing to upgrade to.

As expected Average usage of a Kuro is around 25% more. This is because they don't use Neo PDP tech like the later panasonics. I'm not aware of any top dowm push for lower power consumption that is currently in force. If there was the plamas would be banned over LCD

In any case your claims of excessive power consumption are just twaddle. You probably haven't even seen a Kuro in action either.

 

[Simon]

i never measured my pz85b personally but someone else who sold his on avforums said it would consume up to 480 watts and that he welcomed that his new tv used less than 200

so i assumed he had measured his and mine would be consuming a similar amount.

the pz85b is a stunning set but again it is outdated and old now, mine also used to heat the room up so much that if you had the door shut you would literally start to sweat.

Nothing like purchase justification. Up to 480W? Yeah if he likes watching a white screen on maximum brightness then I guess that's realistic.

 

[NirK]

It does end up costing quite a lot over 5 years or so of running a plasma....

I added it up in another thread the cost of running a 50" LED vs a 50" Plasma and it was something like the 50-100% entire cost of the new TV set again spent in electricity over 5 years and that was the new plasmas which use less electricity than the Kuro! So probably about the cost of the TV in electricity every 5-7 years lol.

 

[Simon]

You are crap at maths then.

250W for 4 hours a day is 1kwh. Lets assume 12p/ kwh and therefor 12p a day. 3years is around 1000 days so that's £120 in outright electricity usage.

Another tv won't use no electricity so I'm not sure how you think the difference is £2k over 5years.

 

[NirK]

Nope I worked it out it is not difficult...

I did it at 16p KW/H....

Costs about £700 to run a Panasonic for 5 years.

But that was based on 10 hours a day.

 

[NirK]

Tv on for 10 hours a day @ 16p per KW/H (the rate i pay on electricity meter)

1 year = £60 @ 100w

55" sony LED = £35 a year
55" Samsung LED = £55 a year
55" panasonic plasma = £120 a year
51" Samsung plasma = £170 a year

Over 5 years that is :

55" sony LED = £175
55" Samsung LED = £275
55" panasonic plasma = £600
51" Samsung plasma = £850

Assuming a Kuro is more power than a Samsung plasma then it will be even more.... Probably £1000+ every 5 years @ 10 hours per day.

 

[MagicBoy]

10 hours a day? Maybe for a large family if there's always someone at home.

Couple of hours in an evening at the most for me, more at weekends as there's likely F1 or BTCC on, plus Movies to watch. Simon's 4 hours a day seems about right averaged out over the week.